BAD is returning in 2025:
Thursday 11 - Saturday 13 September
BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival is an independent not-for-profit annual event that explores what crime can tell us about human beings. Speakers include writers, journalists, academics, podcasters, broadcasters and film-makers, as well as professionals from the justice system such as detectives, judges, lawyers, psychologists and forensic scientists.
CHAIR
Sue Turnbull is Senior Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Wollongong. She has been reviewing crime fiction for The Sydney Morning Herald and the Age for over twenty years.
She has been a crime fiction judge for the Ned Kelly Awards, the Davitt Awards and is an Ambassador for Sisters in Crime Australia. Her academic publications include The TV Crime Drama (Edinburgh University Press 2014) and Media Audiences (Palgrave Macmillan 2020).
Artistic Director
After a career in educational publishing, Catherine is now a teacher and facilitator at writers’ festivals and literary events. She co-founded the St Albans Writers’ Festival in 2015 and was its Artistic Director from 2015 to 2018. Catherine is Director of the Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival at the Women’s Club and a Judge of the annual Ned Kelly Awards.
She has been Artistic Director of BAD Sydney since 2019.
BOARD MEMBER
SUZANNE LEAL is the author of novels Running with Ivan, The Teacher’s Secret and The Deceptions, for which she won the Nib People’s Choice Prize and was shortlisted for the Davitt Awards and the Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award. Suzanne began her legal career as a criminal lawyer and is now a senior member of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
An experienced facilitator and host at community, corporate and literary events, Suzanne is the founder of Thursday Book Club, a relaxed, friendly book club connecting readers online.
Suzanne’s new novel, The Watchful Wife, will be released in July. www.suzanneleal.com
BOARD MEMBER
BOARD MEMBER
Joanne Chua-Robertson is the Chief Growth Officer and co-investor in an AI Technology Start-up which develops Large Language Models to detect personal and sensitive information in large datasets. Joanne has worked for more than 25 years consulting with corporations, law firms and
regulators in the use of forensic and eDiscovery technology to gather evidence in white collar crime investigations and litigation; and to protect privacy in data governance and cyber security resilience.
Joanne is currently writing her first crime thriller novel set in Far North Queensland and is an active member, podcast producer and host of the In Conversation podcast series with Tropical Writers Inc.
BOARD MEMBER
Warwick is a Partner in the professional services firm KPMG where he has worked for more than 30 years, specialising in external audit and related services. He has extensive governance experience with not-for-profit organisations through his audit and advisory roles and he has also served on many boards and committees.
He is currently Deputy Chancellor of the University of Wollongong and a Director of Merrigong Theatre Company (Illawarra Performing Arts Centre).
Warwick is an avid reader and listener to audiobooks, and he particularly loves crime fiction.
BOARD MEMBER
Dr Marion McCutcheon is a communications economist and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Canberra’s News and Media Research Centre, with extensive experience as a policy researcher and as an academic. Her interests include the media industries and the creative economy, and how society benefits from investing in culture, with recent work including a book co-authored with the University of Wollongong’s Sue Turnbull, Transnational TV Crime: From Scandinavia to the Outback. Marion reads eclectically for pleasure, and usually has a crime novel on the go.
BOARD MEMBER
BOARD MEMBER
Felix is a radio presenter, producer, technician, and educator. Together with his co-conspirator Benjamin “Herds” Herder, Felix helms 2SER 107.3FM’s crime and mystery fiction program “Death of the Reader“. He also is a regular feature on 2SER’s long-running literary program “Final Draft“.
After taking several text-based tours of the world, Felix ventured into the real world and became embedded in the rich camaraderie of crime writing, bringing readers and authors closer together through radio, podcasting, live events, and more.
FOUNDER
Michael writes the Bella Greaves series of crime novels set in the Blue Mountains, where he lives. He is a public servant and a founder of the BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival.
FOUNDER
Denis Tracey is a former academic and author of two books on family-owned business and philanthropy. He is a co-founder of BAD Sydney. Now semi-retired he spends a lot of his time travelling and reading crime stories.
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